Cheah Kok Hoong, Hitachi Sunway Information Systems Group CEO and Director says, “Malaysia is on a path to rebuild itself and we believe digital transformation such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be a driving growth enabler for the nation. However, data management, storage and security require an ecosystem that includes power supply, connectivity and infrastructure.”

Energy cost

Currently data rich global businesses prefer to host or build data centres in neighbouring countries as energy costs for data centres in Malaysia amounts to as more than 40 percent of operations costs. While the industry is making efforts to implement green technology to reduce consumption and improve energy usage efficiency, the price remains a concern for global data players especially when there are cheaper options nearby. Which is why we urge the government to recognise data centres as key growth enablers and reclassify data centres under the industrial tariff E power supply.

Lower connectivity costs

At the same time, we congratulate the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM) for achieving lower connectivity costs for consumers. We hope that he will now expedite the lowering of broadband costs for data centre operators and revoke monopolies in the telecommunication sector that hinders the ministries aspirations for faster connectivity. Faster speeds at lower costs will enable us to attract global investors to choose Malaysia over its neighbours.

Rising costs

The reintroduction of SST created repercussions for all in the value chain as operational cost increased across the board. For example, the compound effect of SST on IT services that were subcontracted or had multiple vendors. Cost also increased on software license subscription maintenance. We hope the government can review this and also provide incentives for the private sector to invest in digital infrastructure to push Malaysia towards Industry 4.0.

Review the Communications and Multimedia Act

There are many laws in the Communications and Multimedia Act that forces ISPs and Data centres like ours to follow the law and act against the wishes of the people. For example, once an order from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is issued, under Section 242 it is an offence to not comply with MCMC’s request, even if we know the request was not right. Section 242 handles compliance to the Act, where failure to comply is punishable with a fine not exceeding RM100,000, or prison not exceeding two years, or both. Adherence to such orders are one of the key criterias when the license of a solutions provider is issued. Any deviation of non-compliance of such orders puts the renewal at risk.

We hope the government will look into the act and review similar laws. At the same time, we urge the government to set up a committee made up of representatives from both sides to review future orders so that the wrong order is not sent out.

Hitachi Sunway is a leading ICT Services Integrator in ASEAN specialising in implementing, supporting and providing consultancy for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) & Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions; managing and supporting IT infrastructures; Cloud-enabling IT platforms, including the Cyber Security elements in our fully compliant and secured data centres (DC). Our portfolio is aimed at helping clients to embrace the acceleration in digitalization that are transforming businesses. Hitachi Sunway has a proven track record of serving more than 1,000 clients in the region across various business verticals; from small to global enterprises as well as public sector and industries such as manufacturing, financial, construction, education and healthcare. Hitachi Sunway currently operate in 15 locations across 5 countries (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam) and will be expanding our operations to Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. For more information, visit www.hitachi-sunway-is.com